OTTAWA — Edmonton MP Peter Goldring has withdrawn from caucus after he was charged with refusing to take a breathalyzer test this weekend following a fundraiser.

Mr. Goldring, 66, a Conservative backbencher first elected in 1997, quit caucus on Monday until the charges are resolved.

The incident reportedly happened on the weekend following a fundraising event at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in north Edmonton.

More than 100 people attended the dinner, which featured a roast beef and perogy dinner along with a silent auction and a cash bar.

Member of the Alberta legislature Thomas Lukaszuk was the keynote speaker and sat at the same table as Goldring. He declined to say whether he saw Goldring drinking or whether the MP was intoxicated.

“I’m not qualified to judge that,” Lukaszuk said, adding he was talking to constituents for much of the evening.

Edmonton police spokesman Chad Orydzuk told the Edmonton Journal that Goldring was charged with refusing to provide a breath sample using the roadside screening test. Orydzuk said police pulled over the car near 90th Street and 153rd Avenue about 12:30 a.m. Dec. 4.

The patrol that pulled Goldring over was in support of a broader Checkstop program, which wrapped up before individual police units spread out to do roving checks.

“They’re tasked with identifying and arresting suspected impaired drivers,” Orydzuk said. He couldn’t say if Goldring’s vehicle was seized, which is only done when safety is a concern, but said someone drove him home.

The Edmonton East MP has not yet returned calls seeking comment.

“Our government takes drinking and driving very seriously,” said Sara MacIntyre, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s press secretary. She couldn’t comment further while the case is before court, except to say Goldring has withdrawn until charges are resolved.

In 2009, Mr. Goldring spoke out against a proposal from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the House of Commons justice committee to require roadside screening for all drivers, even if police didn’t have reason to suspect they had been drinking alcohol. He called the proposal “disturbing.”

“It is safe to say everyone is opposed to drunk driving — but there are civil liberty issues involved,” he said in a statement posted on his website.

New Democratic Party MP Linda Duncan said Goldring has set a poor example.

“It’s disturbing in a number of areas,” the MP for Edmonton-Strathcona said.

“Of course, everyone in Alberta is aware of the government pushing for stricter standards for impaired driving. So one would think elected officials would set a higher standard. Coming from a youth event? That’s pretty incredible.”

Duncan said the incident exposes the tough-on-crime federal government “for the hypocrites they are,” and noted that one Edmonton volunteer organization has in the past asked MPs to help drive intoxicated people on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

“This is the opposite of what we should be doing as elected officials,” she said of Goldring’s alleged actions on the day of the incident.

She also said it was “pretty reprehensible” that Goldring, in 2009, wrote that he was concerned about the risk to civil liberties of a proposal by Mothers Against Drunk Driving to require drivers to provide breath samples even if there is no grounds for suspicion.

Leila Moulder, president of the Edmonton chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said she was surprised to hear about the charge.

“It comes as a huge disappointment especially in light of the new legislation that’s around and all the buzz in the media right now, just to have this as one more challenge that we’re faced with,” Moulder said, making reference to proposed legislation under Alberta Premier Alison Redford to suspend the licences of motorists charged with having more than .08 blood alcohol content. Drivers who blow between .05 to .08 blood alcohol content will also face tougher sanctions.

“It’s unnerving, especially when somebody is in an elected position, a position of authority in the public eye,” Moulder said. “You need to have that greater responsibility and there was a lack of such responsibility in this issue.”

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